Humpy : RIP

oh so sorry Gurth was he old do you think?

No, Pamg, not even fully grown.

oh dear I'm so sorry

So sorry :(

Oh what a shame Gurth, Is the other one ok ?

Yesterday afternoon we received another shock. I heard David bellowing like an enraged bull, and going to the back garden to investigate, found a chameleon on the ground, which Jessie must have brought from the bougainvillea 30 yards away. It was Greenback.

David had just found Jessie standing over what looked like a leaf, and when seeing what it was he stunned Jessie with his voice, knowing she might run away with the chameleon if he approached.

I took up the chameleon, which showed the charactistic black patches of trauma, but did not show any bad damage. It was almost completely lifeless, and I doubted if it would survive.

It sat on my hand and finger for half an hour, breathing noticeably but with eyes closed most of the time. Now and again the eyes would open briefly, then close again.
And now and again she would lift a head a trifle and then drop it back again at once. This looked like a final agony to me.

I couldn't sit indefinitely with the moribund chameleon on my hand, so David brought a vase with bougainvillea branch to my window-sill. And some more branches to lay flat on the sill.

An improvement set in, Greenback gradually showed more signs of life and finally climbed onto the branches with quite a lively movement. Very promising, despite the continuing ghastly colouration.

I'd thought of keeping her indoors for a few days of convalescence, but she seemed eager to get outside so finally we put her back on her old bush.

And this morning, anxious to see how she was doing, we looked quite a while before spotting her in plain sight near the top of the bush. She looked vastly better, the colouration almost back to normal and looking quite happy.

Soon after that David was looking at the hibiscus, when suddenly I saw total shock in his face. He was looking at a chameleon on the bush, and couldn't believe his eyes.

It was Humpy, back on his old bush! It was, and is, him, beyond any shadow of a doubt.

I'd thought the dead chameleon that we buried on Sunday was Humpy, but now we see I made a mistake. It must have been Denty or Peaky, who have both disappeared, or some unknown chameleon.

I'm so pleased for you Gurth, although its a shame about the other one. It was possibly an old timer, are they territorial Gurth ?

Females are not territorial, they go where the food is and are happy if other females join. Males cannot abide each other and fight a lot.

One day many years ago I watched a male climb down a rose bush, walk 5 yards across the lawn towards another rose bush. Then I saw another male coming down that bush to meet him.

They met at the bottom of the bush, and after a brief exchange of mouth-to-mouth bites, the "intruder" turned around and returned home; the other one, having defended his territory successfully, did not pursue.

I thought it was sad that Humpy had died but then I was happy for you & David that he hadn't. But it is still a shame about the unknown one you buried.

Thanks to all of you for your likes and remarks. I am sorry that I have not had enough time during the last 6 months to pay much attention to this forum, I only wish it were not so. But there are so many things waiting to be done.

No need to apologise Gurth, now and again is better than never, I always enjoy your blogs.

Thank you for that LL.